Ship Thickness Measurement in Venice and Porto Marghera

Inspection services for ships at Venice

Each service has its own page with the method, the class requirements and what the report contains.

Where gauging happens in Venice and the lagoon ports

Almost all gauging in Venice is done afloat at the commercial berths of Porto Marghera. Tanker berths in the petrochemical area allow deck, piping and ballast tank gauging during cargo operations under the terminal's permit rules, while dry bulk and general cargo quays give access to holds and hatch covers once discharge is complete. Because transits depend on pilotage, tugs and the tide, ships tend to stay alongside for whole working days, and a well-planned job can cover a meaningful part of a survey programme without delaying sailing.

Ro-pax ferries and ro-ro ships use the terminal at Fusina on the mainland edge of the lagoon, and the remaining cruise traffic uses the Marittima terminals. Chioggia, at the southern end of the lagoon, handles smaller general cargo and bulk ships. Large drydockings are often booked at yards elsewhere in the Adriatic or the Mediterranean, and a pre-docking survey in Marghera gives the chosen yard firm steel estimates before the ship sails. Access to every berth runs through the ship's agent, who arranges ISPS passes and the inductions the chemical and petroleum terminals require.

• Petrochemical and chemical berths, Porto Marghera — gauging of ballast tanks, cofferdams, main deck and cargo and ballast piping on chemical and product tankers during cargo operations
• Dry bulk quays, Porto Marghera — after discharge of agricultural or other dry bulk cargo, hold frames, topside tanks, hatch covers and coamings on handysize bulk carriers
• Container and multipurpose terminals, Porto Marghera — readings on feeder and multipurpose ships, mainly ballast tanks, hatch covers and the scrubber discharge line where fitted
• Fusina ro-ro terminal — vehicle deck, ramp and ballast tank gauging on ro-pax and ro-ro ships while they lie alongside between sailings
• Marittima passenger terminals — the smaller cruise ships that still call, gauged during turnaround on their scrubber lines and items carried over from the last survey
• Chioggia — gauging on smaller general cargo and bulk ships at the southern lagoon port, combined with Marghera work in a single mobilisation

Regulation, emissions and market context in the Venice lagoon

Port state control at Marghera and Chioggia is carried out by the Italian Coast Guard under the Paris MoU. Chemical tankers are surveyed under IACS UR Z10.3 and product tankers under Z10.1 or Z10.4, and for these ESP ships the third renewal survey and those after it bring extensive gauging of cargo and ballast tank structure. Chemical tankers often have stainless steel cargo tanks that change little over a ship's life, while the mild-steel ballast tanks, cofferdams and deck structure carry the corrosion; the gauging effort follows the steel, not the tank count.

Ships crossing the lagoon inlets have sailed within the Mediterranean SOx ECA from its start date of 1 May 2025, which means 0.10% sulphur fuel or a scrubber meeting the same emission limit. Rules on open-loop wash-water discharge differ between ports and coastal states, so masters confirm local requirements through the agent before arrival, and scrubber overboard piping benefits from regular wall-thickness checks whatever mode the system runs in. EU ETS, applying to shipping since 2024, and FuelEU Maritime, since 2025, bear on older handysize bulk carriers and product tankers, where the decision to keep, sell or recycle a ship often turns on the condition of its steel.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Venice burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or run a scrubber. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service and are worth adding to the gauging scope at every docking.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Venice

Most of the work on a Venice job happens before the team boards: scope, plan and access are settled first, so the time on board goes on measurement.

Venice Marco Polo Airport is on the mainland edge of the lagoon, close to Porto Marghera, and Treviso airport adds further European connections. Porto Marghera is reached by road rather than by water, which makes equipment handling simpler than anywhere in the historic city. The ship's agent arranges ISPS access and terminal inductions for the chemical and petroleum berths, which apply their own safety rules. Travel for our Indian technicians is on Schengen visas, and we fix flights once the ship's lagoon transit is confirmed, since tides and barrier closures can shift arrival times.

• Send the vessel name or IMO number, ship type, class society, the survey due (annual, intermediate, renewal survey number, CAP or owner's condition survey), the port and dates, and the scope you expect.
• We confirm the scope against the class rules for that survey, prepare the thickness measurement plan with frame and section references, and say whether the measurement will be credited to a class survey.
• Mobilisation is planned around visa lead times and the vessel's schedule; the ship's agent arranges port access, and the yard or ship arranges staging, lighting, ventilation and gas-free certificates.
• Gauging with calibrated ultrasonic thickness gauges: through sound coatings only where the gauge's through-coating mode has been verified on a coated reference, otherwise on cleaned bare steel, with every reading tied to its frame, strake and location on the sketch.
• Readings are compared with original thicknesses as work proceeds; substantial and excessive corrosion and any cracks are reported to the attending surveyor and the superintendent the same day.
• The final report is issued on the class thickness-measurement formats with sketches, a summary of locations exceeding the allowable margins, piping tables where piping was in scope, and the gauge calibration and technician certificates.

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